Cork v Galway: No pressure on Rebels but hunger is strong, says Darragh Fitzgibbon

As supporters, it’s natural to catastrophise.

Go in as underdogs, there’s no hope, you shouldn’t even show up; if you’re the favourites, you’re sitting ducks, there to be knocked.

Having lost the last two All-Ireland finals, and with what is now a 21-year gap since the last win, it would be understandable if those within the Cork camp saw the threat as much as the opportunity, but captain Darragh Fitzgibbon is clear on the fact that what can be won is the driver rather than what can be lost.

“It sharpens the hunger more than anything,” he says.

“We are all getting older so we realise as we do so how fewer opportunities we will get. I don’t think there is either a burden or a pressure on us.

“We see it as a great opportunity – on Saturday, we will get to play in Croke Park in a full stadium. There is no con to that, no pressure. It’s where we want to be.”

Cork will be aiming to reach a seventh straight final across Munster and All-Ireland championships and the national league. Those deciders have yielded some successes and some disappointments, but the latter set has offered valuable experience.

“We have just seen them as learnings really within the group,” Fitzgibbon says.

“The All-Ireland final losses were obviously heartbreaking at the time but if you lose a league final or you lose a Munster final, you kind of just park it and use it as learnings. The goal is to win an All-Ireland, for what is happening later down the line.

“To be fair to us, we are a hugely resilient group. We keep coming back. It just comes back to the appreciation of the opportunity we have. We are a long time at it and you want to make the most of the opportunities you have.

“So there is no point if you lose a game, if you beat yourself up about it. You want to get the opportunity again to go at it. You want to come back at it after a loss with as much resilience as you can and try your best.”

In terms of Galway, Cork are trying to change a recent record where the last five championship meetings between the counties have gone the way of the Tribesmen.

Fitzgibbon was involved in the most recent of those, a 2022 quarter-final loss in Thurles, a day when Cork lost by just a point having shot 16 wides.

“I remember that game,” he says.

“We always have a saying in the playing group, whoever wins the match over the 70 minutes is always going to be the better team, so you can have no complaints.

“I remember that day as well, a lot of players probably felt like we let Kieran Kingston down as well, because we just didn't perform at all.

“We were probably lucky, I think we only lost by a point or two in the end, but Galway were probably much better than us that day.

“I don't think Cork have beaten Galway in a championship since 2008 as well, it’s been a long time so Galway have the tradition on their side and momentum on their side over the last couple of games that we've met.”

For Fitzgibbon, Saturday will be special in that he will lead the side out at Croke Park for the first time.

Having succeeded Robert Downey as captain at the beginning of the year, it’s a role he has embraced, albeit without feeling extra pressure.

“Probably from my own point of view, it's just the responsibility of wanting to do as best I can for the lads, really,” he says.

“Since I've come in, there's always been a leadership group that contains six or seven players and I had been on that for the last three or four seasons.

“That group of players take a lot of leadership in terms of speaking and driving the standards and just getting our message across to management and taking the management's message across to the players. So, nothing really changed in that regard, other than I'm probably kind of leading that leadership group now, whereas Rob was last year.

“But other than that, I don't find that there's any pressure on the field or anything like that. I'm kind of well used to being vocal in the group and being one of the lads that kind of drive the standards now at this stage. That kind of comes with experience.”

• eir Ambassador Darragh Fitzgibbon was speaking as part of eir’s continued support of the All‑Ireland SHC and the fourth year of the Poc Tapa Challenge, a competition open to every GAA club in the country, where the fastest team wins €5,000 for their club and the chance to play in Croke Park on semi‑final day. To enter, visit @eir.Ireland on Instagram. eir is recognised by Opensignal as having Ireland’s No.1 5G network coverage.